I’m giving up movies. They’ve been a huge part of my life since as long as I can remember. My dad would take me to the movie theater quite often and I’d obsessively watch the same movies on the VHS player over and over. I never tired of them. Until recently. Many reasons could have contributed to my recent fatigue. For the past several years I’ve reviewed movies for the website Minnesota Connected. Being able to review movies had always been a dream of mine and having the ability to get early and free pre-screenings really roared a fire under that passion. Though as time went on and my desire to…

The Dead Poets Society is one of my favorite movies of all time. Even as a young kid I remember enjoying it. Robin Williams performance as Mr. Keating electrifies the drama, bringing passion and heart to a story which could have fallen flat. In the movie, Mr. Keating has several iconic scenes which argue against stale, passionless writing, but rather encourages all artists to not be bound by rules or structure. In essence, Keating’s message to his students and to the audience is: Be free.

In my childhood, horror movies were strictly off-limits. Usually, if I wanted to see one, I’d have to go to a friends house and even then it was unlikely. Once in a while my brother might rent one and let me watch it with him. Also rare. Overall, I never watched many horror movies growing up. However, you don’t need a horror movie to freak you out as a kid. My vast and untamed childhood imagination did all the work for me with a little push from any unsuspecting movie. Let’s look at some of the movies that freaked me out as a child.

This year has been quite a doozy in the film world with an equal portion of fresh and rotten films. But, let’s look on the bright side and look at the best movies of the year. Before I do, I’ll briefly mention that these are my top ten and, of course, my opinion. Also, I haven’t seen quite a big chunk of movies in 2016 yet. So if your movie didn’t make it on this list, don’t take it personally. I probably just haven’t seen it yet. This list is not in any particular order. Okay, let’s do this…